In the Jewish spirituality toolkit, there are many more practices that like to we commonly think of.
The reason might be some of these ways of acquiring wisdom aren’t so pleasant.
While we usually are all on board with tools for wisdom such as spiritual teachings, words of torah, contemplative practice, mussar (ethical discipline), tsedaka (charity/justice) or chesed ( acts of kindness ), there are couple of other practices, less spoken of, less frequent- thank Gd, and less popular today.
Such are for instance onesh ( punishment), tochacha (reproof) or inui (physical self affliction, in particular through fasting).
Not a coincidence we are talking about these today, in this period of progressive mourning towards tisha b’av, the most difficult fast in the Jewish Calendar.
And just at this time, Moshe’s discourse to Bnei Israel at the opening of Sefer Devarim, since the Sifrei and Rashi, has been interpreted as a classical instance of tochacha (reproof).
Between Ethical discipline or Suffering, do we get to choose our practices?
The fast answer is yes, and no.
Commenting on just one word in the third verse of the parasha, the Mei ha shiloach takes us through an interesting twist on the hierarchy of these wisdom tools, which really are interconnected healing devices.
He does that by commenting on an apparently insignificant detail of the 3d verse, a date that sets the chronological stage of Moshe’s discourse;
And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel (Devarim 1.3)
וַֽיְהִי֙ בְּאַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה בְּעַשְׁתֵּֽי־עָשָׂ֥ר חֹ֖דֶשׁ בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ דִּבֶּ֤ר משֶׁה֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל
The Mei Ha Shiloach starts with a play on words:
כי חודש שבט מורה על שבט ותוכחת מוסר
‘Shevat (the eleventh month) teaches of the rod [Shevet in Hebrew] and ethical reproof”
As a proof text he brings the Proverbs, which say (Mishlei, 29:15)
שבט ותוכחת יתן חכמה,
“The rod and reproof will bring wisdom.”
Both of these pedagogical techniques are not so popular today.
In fact it may make you shiver in resistance to read these words- especially if you were brought up before the seventies' Counter-Culture.
Yet on a deep level, and if used wisely-which is rarely the case, both the pedagogy of the stick (that is, punishment) and of blame (reproof) have great wisdom potential to them:
If we see punishment as a way for us to take responsibility and pay for our mistakes, there is great growth possible in it:
We hardly learn our lessons unless we pay for them. One of my teachers used to call it the “tuition for the University of Life.”
And if tochacha, reproof, is done from of a place of love and constructive feedback, it can help us grow incredibly.
In this time of painful war, parents of the Hostages are addressing relentlessly tochacha to the israeli government.
Just this week, the mother of a murdered hostage taken by an UNRWA employee manifested her reproof to Mr Lazarini during a Red Cross celebration.
If only these leader would hear the reproof, learn the lessons and be willing to pay the price for their mistakes instead of having their People pay for it!
Yes sometimes the unpleasant is a great Teacher.
Of course, this conversation feels very timely today, as we have entered the last days towards tisha b’Av, a day in which the ultimate teaching will happen in a very embodied way, through inui -afflication, via fasting.
Yes, there is something to self-inflicted bodily pain- fasting, as is done in many world traditions: breaking the body can break open the soul.
Fasting makes us more humble, more conscious of our utter vulnerability and interconnectedness with the earth, the sky and nature. And as it makes us rehearse our own dying, as the body grows weaker, the awareness of the fragility of life can help us wake up.
All of this being said, seems to tell us the Mei Ha Shiloach, there is a direct path to wisdom, and this one encompasses them all, and this one doesn't have to take us through the road of suffering.
This is what the Mei Ha Shiloach seems to imply when telling us:
ונתן מרע"ה עצה שיכנסו את עצמם בד"ת
And Moshe Rabeynu gave them an advice: to bring themselves (make themselves enter) the Torah
Why so?Because then, he adds
ותפדה אותם מכל רע
God would redeem them from all evil
We can make ourselves suffer in order to learn.
But torah can become the “suffering”(issurin) that redeems, through mussar (ethical instruction) without us needing to actually go through unnecessary suffering;
This is as it says (Tehilim, 111:10), “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God,
meaning
כי יש מוסר עפ"י יסורין ח"ו'
“There is mussar (ethical teaching) (that can be learned) through suffering- God Forbid” he says.
We wish we didn’t have to suffer
but sometimes this is how we learn.
I have met so many israelis, in this time of war, whose heart have been broken open into wisdom, by pain and loss.
I remember a young israeli who was sent to fight after october 7th, and came back without a leg.
In a television interview, he was saying, that as surprising as it may seem, loosing a limb had made him realize all that he did have.
The tragedy had made him realize the preciousness of life.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy, he said to the interviewer. But I love my life so much better. I used to be pessimistic, complaining, a little depressed. Now I appreciate so many little things, I see the gifts I receive each day. I started keeping shabbat; and I feel so much more connected to joy.
Of course I don’t wake up singing every morning, and there are tough times. But now when that I can take a breath, look around, and see the good."
Sometimes yes, the Mei Ha shiloach teaches us in another play on words, suffering (issurin) can become our mussar (ethical) teacher.
But it should be “Chas veshalom”, “god forbid”, the Ishbitzer adds. If we can avoid, it shouldn't happen.
May we not have to go through this in order to learn that.
And this is why, he says, we have Torah.
וד"ת ג"כ נקראים מוסר כמ"ש (משלי ח',י
"Because words of torah are also called Mussar”
Even as we are getting ready to fall into the catharsis of suffering in Tisha b’Av the Hassidic Master reminds us that ultimately, irah, (deep reverence/awe/radical amazement), is enough.
After all isn’t it, as he reminds us, from the Tehilim, 111:10), “the beginning of wisdom”?
This year more than ever, as we are about to enter Shabbat Chazon, the shabbat in which we envision a healing on the other side of crying, let us invite ourselves into torah. Let us give ourselves to it like we would enter living waters of healing.
It will be enough.
Shabbat shalom
thank you!